


deep within the walls that we've forgotten

by WithYourRhythm



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Banter, Crimes & Criminals, FBI Agent Hatake Kakashi, FBI Agent Yuuhi Kurenai, Ghosts, Gift Art, Happy Ending, Hopeful Ending, Idiots in Love, Kidnapping, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Injuries, Orphan Umino Iruka, Recovery, Scars, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-05-20 23:06:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19386331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WithYourRhythm/pseuds/WithYourRhythm
Summary: Iruka wheezed, trying to get over the initial shock of still being alive, because what the hell just happened? Then, there was a blurry image, appearing over the pile of limbs Kakuzu and Hidan created, floating over two passed out murderers just like that.A ghost. A powerful ghost, who could kill, or at least knock-out living people. A ghost, who had saved Iruka’s life just now and wasfloating towards Iruka, oh god-Or,Ghosts have always been a part of Iruka's life. They were there when he walked outside, still there when he went to work, sometimes not even moving for hours as people passed by them without noticing the shadows of death.And maybe, they didn’t form as a result of death only.





	deep within the walls that we've forgotten

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rikacain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rikacain/gifts).



> My gift to rikacain for KakaIru Exchange! The prompt I decided to go with was 'fantasy AU', so hopefully, I did it justice. Hope you like it!
> 
> This fic was beta-ed by amazing Sarah (Taudi on Discord), who helped me through a lot of grammar mistakes and suggested adding more to the story where my narrative lacked. She was very patient with me and was one of the best betas I've ever worked with. Thank you so much Sarah, you're really awesome!
> 
> Also, the fic name's from "Splintered" by Aisha Badru. It's a very good song, though, doesn't have much to do with the fic itself.
> 
> Enjoy~
> 
>  
> 
> Edit (17.03.2020): Lovely [@sinyaru on Tumblr](http://sinyaru.tumblr.com) did [an amazing piece](https://sinyaru.tumblr.com/post/612603892363132928/raffle-prize-for-withyourrhythm-from-their-fic) for this fic after I won their raffle -which is still going on so you can go and join in if you want! Thank you sinyaru ♡♡

Ghosts have always been a part of Iruka's life. They were there when he walked outside, still there when he went to work, sometimes not even moving for hours as people passed by them without noticing the shadows of the dead people.

 

When he was a little kid, his parents called the ghosts Iruka's imaginary friends. It wasn't a bad way to describe them, Iruka supposed. Seeing a six-year-old rambling about some woman in their living room, who talked about her daughter that just about the same age as Iruka, was not a very easy way to understand that their children could actually see ghosts.

 

And they did not, in fact, get to learn that Iruka was seeing ghosts anyway. They got mugged, and then, murdered.

 

It wasn't that hard for Iruka to see them as ghosts. What actually had made him cry was the fact that his mother's throat was cut open, and his father had a hole in his stomach. He had escaped from them, screaming to the officer sitting by a table about scary people, who dressed up as his mom and dad, following him.

 

He had gotten used to thesight quite fast. He grew up, slowly picking up the pieces of his heart that had been shattered when his parents died, and he had found himself smiling without a care one more time, even when the warm touch of his mother's hand on his shoulder wasn't there anymore. It was okay. He could still talk to his family, see their warm expressions and feel their support.

 

And after a while, his parents had faded into nothingness. His father had mumbled about how proud he was of Iruka, his mother had smiled, her eyes shining with tears, and that was it. They were gone the second Iruka blinked.

 

That was when he learned that the ghosts disappeared when they were done with their unfinished business which trapped them in the living world.

 

That was when Iruka started helping ghosts.

 

\--

 

It wasn't the child's fault, no. Yugito had been really nice to him, not even screaming in Iruka's face to get him to do whatever she needed help with. And she actually did tell him about how dangerous Hidan and Kakuzu were, instead if sending him to death without a warning as the most ghosts prefered to do.

 

No, it was Iruka's own fault to ever think that he could win a fight against two serial killers. And that was exactly why he was kneeling in front of them with his hands bound behind his back.

 

“Look at this guy, Kakuzu! He’s literally shaking!”

 

“Shut the hell up, idiot. Just take care of him already, we need to go.”

 

“Okay, okay. You sure know how to ruin a guy’s fun.”

 

Iruka could see a kitchen knife in Hidan’s hand, spinning lazily as the man crouched down beside him, and there was a grin on his face that screamed ‘killer’.

 

“Well, this is the last stop for your curious ass, little friend,” Hidan said, “Any last words?”

 

Iruka could feel his eyes twitching with the need to close them. The fear, pressing against his throat and killing his voice, was paralyzing. His fingers felt ice cold behind him, and more than anything else, he wished he had left his neighbours a note behind, so they would know where he had been going and where he was going to end up- in a dumpster, with his body bloody and cold.

 

But none of the things Iruka had expected to happen became real. Instead, Hidan froze for a moment, his bloodthirsty grin seemingly stuck on his face, and then he fell backwards. A gasp echoed in the empty warehouse, probably from Iruka himself, and Kakuzu leaped forward, sliding a gun out from his trenchcoat. His eyes were focused, trailing on Hidan’s body and then Iruka’s, taking in his trembling form.

 

Inching closer to his partner, he crouched down to reach a hand towards Hidan’s neck. _Checking his pulse,_ Iruka’s mind supplied him helpfully, _he’s trying to see if his partner is still alive._

 

Then, before Iruka could try to get up while both of his captors were busy, Kakuzu fell face down on Hidan’s body as well.

 

Iruka wheezed, trying to get over the initial shock of still being alive, because _what the hell just happened?_ Then, there was a blurry image, appearing over the pile of limbs Kakuzu and Hidan created, floating over two passed out murderers just like that.

 

 _A ghost._ A powerful ghost, who could kill, or at least knock-out living people. A ghost, who had saved Iruka’s life just now and was _floating towards Iruka, oh god-_

 

“Oh, can you see me?” The scars stretched horrifyingly on the ghost’s face as the man smiled cheerfully. It reminded Iruka of a story he heard from one of his Japanese students who loved scary myths. The wounds started from the corner of the ghost’s lips, reaching up under his cheekbones, as if someone tried to draw a smiling face on the man’s face, but instead of using pens, they did it with a knife. “That’s interesting. What’s up?”

 

Iruka scrambled backwards with his bound hands knocking against his shoes quite painfully. “W- what the hell..?”

 

“Now that I’ve saved you like a Prince Charming, I think I should be allowed to call you a princess,” Ghost hummed thoughtfully, reaching to his cheek and scratching his pale skin, right under the scar. “Right?”

 

Iruka pushed himself back, only managing to slip from his knees to flop down on his back. He opened his mouth, tried to say something, anything, but the words were stuck in his throat.

 

“I will take that as a yes! Let’s get you out of here, Princess. Those guys may be dead, but their friends are a few blocks away, and they are _definitely_ not.”

 

\--

 

“Maa, I don’t want anything from you, Princess.” The ghost _-Kakashi_ , apparently, was the ghost of a Japanese man that came to this little town with a student exchange program and never really decided to go back- said, leaning back to float in the air horizontally, right over Iruka’s small bed. He had his arms folded behind his head and his eyes were closed. If Iruka didn’t know any better, he’d think the ghost was trying to sleep- like a normal person, except he was floating over the mattress. And humans didn’t do that. They just… didn’t.

 

“I told you not to call me that,” Iruka sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. His forearms still hurt from the stretch they went through with the ropes and pain pulsed from his backside, probably from the fall Kakashi caused back at the warehouse. Sitting on his own, very hard, uncomfortable chair did nothing to help the pain either. “And you can’t just say that. I mean, you’re a ghost, you must want _something.”_

 

Kakashi hummed thoughtfully, tipping his head back even further, a silence settling over the room, but then, “No, I really can’t think of anything.”

 

“Are you sure?” Iruka asked tentatively. That sounded... awfully nice, for a ghost. Kakashi could’ve asked for Iruka’s help on his own unfinished business, whatever it was. Instead, there was this easy air surrounding him, a calm feeling to his floating, relaxed stance. “No unfinished business you need help with? No haunting your murderer? _Nothing?”_

 

“Yeah, none.” Nodding, Kakashi turned his head to Iruka. “Oh, and by the way, Iruka-chan, I’m not actually dead.”

 

Iruka fell off of his chair.

 

\--

 

“Don't you have anything else in your kitchen?” Kakashi sounded curious, leaning over Iruka to look inside the fridge as Iruka was trying to find something to eat. “Having take-out nights so often can't be healthy for you.”

 

“I don't order fast food that much.” Iruka shrugged, eyeing the leftover pizza from two nights ago. It was cold and maybe a little tasteless, but it was also the third pizza Iruka ate this month. It really wasn't that much, he made sure to prepare a salad to go with it whenever he ordered pizza too. He was eating healthy enough.

 

“You don't drink much water either.”

 

“Well, neither do you.” He grinned when Kakashi frowned, “Come on, it was funny. Give me some credit.”

 

Kakashi didn't answer.

 

\--

 

“-and would you like extra cheese on it?”

 

Iruka hesitated, glancing at Kakashi. The ghost was by the door of the living room, his back turned towards the kitchen, and with that, Iruka. There was a sign of calmness within the slack set of his shoulders, his hands were curled into loose fists and he was humming alongside Titanic's theme song that was playing on the television.

 

“Sir, would you like extra cheese?”

 

Iruka let out a shaky breath, lowering his eyes to the empty counter top.

 

“Sir?”

 

“No,” He had went grocery shopping just a few days ago, it would be fine. He missed eating homemade meals too. “Sorry, I don't think I'm up for pizza tonight.”

 

Kakashi's stance relaxed even further, and the man's feet slowly inched away from the ground, as if he had given up on trying to make himself look like he was standing on a solid place. Or maybe he was distracted.

 

Iruka didn't need to hear it from Kakashi's own mouth to know which it was.

 

\--

 

“Yeah, no.” Reaching to the open window, Iruka pressed his lips together, “I like feeling the breeze when I wake up.”

 

Another wave of wind pushed the window back, trying to close it even while Iruka was holding onto it,“But you will get sick, Iruka-chan.”

 

Ghosts asked for help. They begged Iruka to use his ability to touch solid the world for their own business, to make pranks or anything, because they were too weak to actually affect the world as they were. Many couldn't even create a slight gust of wind if they gave their all to it, but this? Now, this was another thing.

 

“I won't! I've been doing this for years, you can't just try to make me give up on my habits because you think they are not healthy!”

 

This was _annoying._

 

“Well, watch me, Princess~”

 

“I swear to god, if you don't shut up I'll leave you with the Notebook on replay the whole night-”

 

\--

 

There was a ringing in Iruka's ear, loud enough to drown other sounds, and the ground tilted dangerously under his feet. He felt himself swaying on the spot even as the chill that started to spread from his chest slowly faded to a slight tingling sensation, and strength disappeared from his muscles momentarily.

 

Before he could hit the ground, though, a muscular arm sneaked around his waist. “I told you that you can’t help ghosts, Iruka.” Tsunade's long-suffering sigh fluttered the stray strands of hair that managed to escape from his ponytail and tickled his ear. Her voice almost sounded like Iruka was still underwater to his tired brain, except, he could still breathe properly and there wasn't any water pressing against his lungs.

 

“I-” Iruka croaked out, wincing when he realized how awful he sounded. Almost drowning did that to people, he guessed. Clearing his throat, he tried again, “I know.”

 

Tsunade's body was warm around him, it helped with his violent shivering. He let himself lean into her grasp, letting out a shaky breath.

 

“Do I need to ask whose ghost it was that managed to make you jump into the sea?” She sounded disapproving.

 

Iruka knew that she had been worried when he called her so suddenly during the middle of the night. He hadn't intended to be followed when he stepped into a small, shady street in the most troublesome part of town, no, he was actually pretty content with walking back home just like that, but Kakashi had decided to point out the fact that some creep was tailing him for the last five minutes. Of course, calling Tsunade, then running towards the dock and jumping into the freezing water wasn't a better idea, but at least it made whoever that was following him lose his track. Hopefully.

 

“No, no, I just- I was being followed and the ghost helped. I thought I might've need medical attention if I didn't manage to get away from that guy and-”

 

“And instead of calling the police or an ambulance, like any normal person would, you called me?” Sounding long-suffering, Tsunade sighed. They turned a corner together and Iruka caught a glimpse of her car, parked by the road.

 

“Uh, I panicked.”

 

_“Iruka.”_

 

“Okay, sorry, sorry! I came here because the ghost heard something and wanted to check it out, and I was talking with him loudly while we walked, so I think someone might've heard us and suspected something. I was acting pretty shady. I didn't want to risk it.”

 

“You're an idiot.” Tsunade said. Iruka thought that she was probably right, but didn't voice his thoughts. “Since when do you follow ghosts into dark streets?”

 

“I don't, but he's still alive! I need to-”

 

“What?” Tsunade interrupted him harshly, jerking to a stop with Iruka still resting against her. She turned her head towards Iruka's, leaning down to look at him with her hair partially blocking the way. “What do you mean alive?”

 

Iruka shrugged, blinking repeatedly to keep the black dots out of his vision. “He's definitely a ghost, but his body is still alive. He says that he can feel it.”

 

“No way...”

 

Feeling Tsunade's grip waver around him, Iruka clutched her shoulder more tightly. “But he's not sure and I'm trying to find out if he's really alive or not.” When the press against his waist got lighter, Iruka's words get jumbled together with how fast he squeaked out, “Oh god, _please don't drop me-”_

 

\--

 

“I don't want you risking your life for me.” Kakashi didn't move from where he was in the air, his eyes focused on Iruka steadily. “If you want to look around for my body, that's okay. But you should put your safety first.”

 

Iruka pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes. He could understand why the ghost was saying that, but he knew he couldn't just leave a man to die if he could help it. “Kakashi-”

 

“I'm serious.” Kakashi said. “You can't just follow me when I wander off to some random street.”

 

“But we could've found out something! What if someone in that alley knew where you were?”

 

“But they didn’t, and you ended up being in danger.”

 

“I can take care of myself and watch out for danger!”

 

“You shouldn’t have to!”

 

“That doesn’t even make sense!”

 

“You don’t make sense-”

 

“Oh, that’s what we’re going to do?”

 

“Well, you started it-”

 

\--

 

“You do realize that I can still get in there, right?” An amused voice asked behind the locked door of the bathroom, the deep noise rumbling in Iruka's chest in a pleasantly warm way. “Locks are not made to keep ghosts out.”

 

“But salt circles and holy water _are, amen!”_ Iruka yelled, warily eyeing the door as he pressed the shirt he was about to drop to the floor against his still-very-much-private parts, ghost roommate or not. His shower was not for two people, not at the moment, damnit. Iruka was happy and peaceful as a single man living in a small flat, and some random ghost didn't get to change that.

 

There was a chuckle, but no more cheerful teasing, so Iruka let the shirt fall and turned back to the mirror above the sink. His reflection blinked back at him, shadows of bags under his eyes that pointed to sleepless nights not too long ago but his tanned skin had its healthy glow back again.

 

It was a wonder, how many things changed in Iruka’s life when Kakashi managed to worm his way into his routine. The man was a menace, didn't know the meaning of 'private' or 'serious' at all, but somehow, he managed to help Iruka on things that had been haunting him for far too long, things a lot more scary than ghosts Iruka could see ever since he was a little child.

 

“Too much narcissism?”

 

Iruka shrieked, throwing himself backwards to get away from the scarred face that appeared way too suddenly beside his own reflection. His heart hammered against his chest loudly, blood rushed to his ears as his back hit to the ground quite painfully.

As loud laughter filled the bathroom, Iruka pressed his hands on himself to keep his body away from the ghost's view and yelled, “Kakashi! Get out _right this instant,_ or I swear to god I will leave dream catchers all over the house-”

 

“You should stop falling on your ass, Princess-”

 

“I swear to god, if you’re somehow not dead _already, I’m going to murder you-”_

 

Needless to say, Kakashi wasn't allowed to choose the channel he got to watch while Iruka slept this time. Instead, he was stuck with watching Titanic for god-knows-how-many times.

 

Kakashi carefully did not tell Iruka that he actually loved Titanic.

 

There were far worse places to be when one was a ghost.

 

\--

 

“A cult created by serial killers,” Iruka tested the words on his tongue, eyeing the only library in town that was across the road. The small, cute-looking café they were sitting in gave a pretty good vantage point to watch students scrambling in front of the building. “To summon their… God?”

 

“Ha, close enough, pretty boy.” Anko grinned.

 

“Not a god. They are trying to summon an old nature spirit that got corrupted,” Kurenai explained, leaning over the table as she clutched the rainbow designed coffee cup in her hands tighter. “Or that’s what it seems like, according to Minato. He says that one of the guys that kidnapped you, Hidan, had used the old rituals a tribe used to perform hundreds of years ago. The tribe would give the spirit sacrifices of blood, preferably from virgins, but massacres were more common. Some people even justified the murders they committed as sacrifices made to the spirit.”

 

“Chaotic evil in its true habitat, but more murderous.” Anko muttered, taking a sip of her coffee. Watching Anko drink coffee from a mug that had colorful kittens and hearts on it was almost as disturbing as the news Kurenai brought. “And maybe a little more like me.” She grinned.

 

_Almost._

 

“That’s horrible…” Iruka leaned back in his seat and let his eyes slip close. It was horrifying, how it didn’t take long for him to picture that scene in his mind. After seeing the different states of dead strangers, he could imagine piles of bodies on the dirty ground, fire brimming under them as screams tore down the smoke-filled air.

 

“It is,” A voice murmured behind him, “But Akatsuki has always been cruel. This is nothing new.”

 

Iruka felt proud to say that he only flinched a little, his breath getting caught in his throat as his body lurched forward in his seat. He could feel the irregular beating of his heart under the skin of his fingertips, and Kurenai’s suspicious looks, combined with Anko’s searching ones, felt heavy on him.

 

 _“Jesus Christ!”_ He wheezed, clutching the table with whatever strength he had left in his body after such a scare. “Warn a man first, idiot!”

 

Kakashi’s chuckle played behind him as the ghost slowly floated around Iruka, stopping once he was hovering over the table. His left foot swinged by Kurenai’s hands that held her coffee, passing through the warm cup without leaving any hints of the deed he did.

 

Kurenai would’ve been furious, had she known.

 

“What happened?” Anko asked curiously, eyeing the little cafe warily.

 

“Is it a ghost? A regular?” With a frown, Kurenai put her coffee on the table, her other hand reaching for the bag that was resting on her lap. Iruka knew that she kept her gun in there, off duty or not. She was sure that an FBI agent like her, who was constantly in danger, could never be too careful, but Iruka disagreed. “Did you see someone from the cult? Were you followed here?”

 

“No! God, no, it’s just- Remember the ghost Tsunade told you about?” Iruka didn’t wait for them to nod, hurrying to continue, “He’s here.”

 

Kurenai’s hand didn’t move away from her bag, but she stopped frowning, and Iruka knew how to appreciate little victories.

 

“You see? This is way more fun, Iruka-chan.” Kakashi chuckled, dangling his feet off of the table. It would’ve looked normal, except, a part of them looked like they were stuck in the table.

 

Iruka sighed, “You’re incorrigible.” Who knew ghosts could be this irritating?

 

“Come on, Princess, don’t say that. I’m actually here to help you.”

 

There was a bored huff from the other side of the table, and Anko’s chair scraped across the ground as she pushed herself away from the table, stuffing her hands into her baggy cargo pants’ pockets. “Look, this is all freaky and stuff, but I really don’t want to watch you talk to air as Kurenai caresses her gun under the table -I mean, _ew-_ so I’ll just go and see what Kushina is doing.”

 

Kurenai’s hand twitched in her bag, her expression twisting with a scowl, _“Anko!”_

 

“Whatever,” Kakashi lifted his head to watch Anko turn back and wave her hand. “I’m out. Later, nerds.”

 

“I like her.” The ghost declared. Iruka desperately hoped that he and Anko would never properly meet, for the sake of his own mental health. He couldn't handle it.

 

Iruka exhaled quitely, leaning back in his chair once more. Fun time was over. “Alright. Kakashi, tell me what you know.”

 

The ghost sat up in the air, his face taking a weirdly unfamiliar, serious look. “Sure thing, Princess.”

 

Kurenai's face did a weird twitch. She kept quiet the whole time.

 

\--

 

“So, what do you know about the Akatsuki?” Iruka asked, leaning against the wooden door with his arms crossed over his chest. Even though no one else could see, Kakashi was mirroring his stance right beside him.

 

“What do I know about the Akatsuki?” Jiraiya huffed, his back turned against Iruka, as he tended the little plant that was a few feet away from the door. He looked strange in the greens and yellows of the patio, with a few colorful flowers here and there. Naruto had done a good job with them, Iruka had to admit. His student really did have his ways with plants. “What do _you_ know about them?”

 

“A few things.” Iruka said. Kakashi nodded approvingly, his eyes trailing the crouched down form of Jiraiya. Iruka wondered where Kakashi knew Jiraiya from, but now was not the time to ask questions. “Will you answer me?”

 

With a sigh, Jiraiya’s arms stopped moving. Iruka guessed that he stopped watering the plant.

 

“Not a lot. They are a big deal in the crime world, my ex-boyfriend used to work with them. They did some dirty work, drugs, murders, kidnappings. The leader has his own morals, but they really don’t fit normal people’s.” With a grunt, he heaved himself off of the ground and stood up. “Not the kind of people you’d want to be acquaintances with.”

 

“He’s right.” Kakashi murmured beside him. “But I bet that’s not all he knows.”

 

“And?” Iruka prodded.

 

“And,” Jiraiya turned his head to glance at Iruka briefly, “You should stop asking about them.”

 

For a second, Iruka swore that Jiraiya glanced towards where Kakashi stood, a weird glint in his eyes, and then-

 

And then, the ghost that had been following Iruka around for weeks now, cried out in pain. Iruka whipped his head to look at Kakashi, panic slowly spreading in his mind and squeezing his heart, and saw that the ghost was leaning forward, clutching his left eye. Throwing himself forward to touch him, Iruka gasped, “Kakashi!”

 

Ghosts were not palpable.

 

Slipping through Kakashi as if the ghost was  made of smoke, Iruka felt his body hitting the wall. Air left his lungs in a rush, but he pushed himself away from the cold surface and leaped to kneel beside Kakashi. Colors were slipping away from the ghost, dripping down like they were just painted on a grey-white statue that could move, and Kakashi’s voice was quietening down.

 

“Kakashi! What’s going on?”

 

Kakashi lifted his head. All Iruka could see was a glimpse of a new scar, running down vertically over the ghost’s left eye, then he faded away with a strong gust of wind.

 

“I’m sorry, Iruka.” Jiraiya’s voice, filled with sadness, murmured behind him. “But you should leave Akatsuki alone.”

 

\--

 

Kakashi did not come back. In fact, there wasn’t anything that pointed to the ghost's existence. The once-again quiet house did wonders to Iruka.

 

He managed to get his pale skin back. It was getting harder to believe that there had been a time he actually used his shower more than once a week, and he was pretty sure that his fridge was as empty as the news about the case.

 

Oh, yeah. He actually made no real progress with the ‘Case of Akatsuki’, as Anko had called it, either. There was a stone in his path, or maybe a boulder, but the absence of Kakashi left a big space, very much unfilled, in Iruka’s life. It was as if the ghost had tried to change Iruka’s days as much as possible, because he could not leave any traces of himself in the world anymore. Or maybe that was just what Iruka felt it was like.

 

Anko had just called it ‘Iruka being all dramatic again’. She might’ve been right, Iruka considered, but it didn’t really matter either way.

 

Kakashi was gone.

 

\--

 

It was cold. That wasn’t really strange, Iruka had the habit of forgetting to close the window before he went to sleep. Kakashi had been a real help with that, reminding him to close it and sometimes calling a gust of wind that smashed the window close, which had resulted with one or two broken windows, and at least four more Titanic nights in Kakashi’s end, but it did get the job done.

 

But now? It was nothing like that. This was more close to ice cubes in a plastic bag left on his arm while he was asleep, like a bad prepared prank, or as if his hand somehow ended up with water-resistant gloves and was submerged in cold water. It made him wake up fast.

 

When his eyes slipped open, there was nothing against his skin. He wasn’t tucked in his bed properly, the color-stained jeans that hadn’t quite managed to escape from a painting session with Konohamaru and a pale blue shirt he wore through the day was still on him, wrinkled after a few hours in bed.

 

His hand was cold.

 

_Kakashi._

 

Iruka pushed himself up in the bed, adjusting his position to sit on the bed comfortably as his hands rested against his knees.

 

“Where are you?” The quietness of the room wasn’t disturbed much, a calmness surrounded Iruka, maybe from sleep, or maybe from something else.

 

There was no answer.

 

His hand was still cold.

 

“What do I need to look for?”

 

Nothing.

 

Maybe he was dreaming. Or hallucinating. He had been spending the last few days very irresponsibly, it was quite possible that he was-

 

_There._

 

Parts of his arm were slowly becoming cold as well. Iruka stilled, waiting for whatever was going to happen. It went on for minutes, or maybe hours, he didn’t know, but then the burning started.

 

It wasn’t the same burning sensation from fire, no. Maybe from cold, but that didn’t exactly describe the pain as it was, either. Whatever it was, it hurted, burned and carved its way through Iruka’s arm as it wished, and Iruka clenched his jaw to keep himself from biting on his own flesh and end up injuring himself.

 

When the sensation finally faded away, he could still feel parts of his arm stinging with cold. He turned the limb, curiously eyeing his own arm, only to see the patch of skin that was now littered with scars that were shaped as… numbers?

 

“What are you trying to say?” His whisper was soft, barely heard in the silent room, and the pressing cold against his skin was slowly disappearing. There was nothing left, just like before.

 

But this time, Iruka had a lead.

 

\--

 

“Coordinates?” The word slipped from his tongue easily, but the idea seemed to be stuck in his mind.

 

“Yeah,” Sakura said, eyeing the paper with numbers on it. She looked a little tired, as busy as ever with  college, and Iruka felt bad for asking her to meet at the park in front of her house this early, but she was one of the most clever people Iruka had ever known. His own student or not, Sakura's ideas were refreshing, and very often than not, right. “I mean, I’m not sure, but it’s worth a try?”

 

“You’re right. Thank you for your help, Sakura.” Patting the newly-dyed pink hair of his old student, Iruka smiled gently.

 

That sounded like a plan, alright. One that was very irresponsible, full off guesses, and really depending on Iruka's luck, but it was one. Iruka could work with it.

 

\--

 

“Yeah, sure, just carve some numbers on my arm, which are actually coordinates of some abandoned warehouse just like the one I almost got murdered in- which were also the place we actually met, yeah,” Words tripped over each other as Iruka crawled on the ground, trying to slip under the metal wires with spikes on them. “Because that’s supposed to help you in some way, or me. Dumbass.”

 

There was no student of his, or any living being around, so Iruka felt free to show the love he felt towards a particular ghost that was fond of stealing Iruka's time and thought his acting was good enough to hide the fact that he loved Titanic more than the bad nicknames he liked to think out of nothing. Naruto had been better at hiding those kinds of things than Kakashi, really.

 

“How did I start to think of you fondly? You’re just an idiot-” The words died on his lips as a light flashed just by the front entrance of the warehouse.

 

A car stopped by the old building.

 

\--

 

Sneaking in from the roof had been clever, once he had found out about the garbage bins and the ledges just over them, but standing on the metal roof trusses just inside the building, high enough that if he were to slip, it would result with many broken bones as the best ending, was not so clever. Worse ending was undecided between staying alive after falling and getting caught by a bunch of murderers, who were, coincidentally, a part of Akatsuki, or just straight up falling headfirst into his own, very stupid death. Iruka leaned towards the ‘falling to death’ choice more. Not that he wanted either of them to happen, but… Just to be on the safe side. He had no intentions of falling on a psychopath like Hidan.

 

“-and those idiots ended up messing up the plan. Who knows who exactly they let loose with possibly important information on us?” Clinging to the beam he was on tighter, Iruka grimaced. Yeah, definitely the Akatsuki. “This is all one big clusterfuck, I keep telling you.”

 

“Don’t think on it too much, Bomber. I’m sure Leader will come up with a plan for that loose end.”

 

“Bomber, my ass! Who even decided that it would be a good idea to use codenames? If Idiot One and Idiot Two didn’t mess everything up, I could’ve been just-”

 

“What? Using your name? Which had been all over the news for days after that big mess we saved you from?”

 

“Assholes. All of you. I don’t know why I put up with any of you-”

 

“Be quiet, I think Puppeteer is back.”

 

“Yeah, I sure will be-”

 

The door opened, the loud noise ear-scratching in the big building, and Iruka winced. That was one very loud door. Which opened. By more murderers. Who Iruka was spying on right now. Perfect.

 

_Thank you, Kakashi. Please don’t try to do me any more favors after this._

 

“Is it only us, Shark?”

 

“Yeah. Leader said that he was on the private plane with the others, but they won’t arrive till at least midnight.”

 

Well, that was good news. Or as good as it could be, despite the circumstances.

 

His criterions were really low, weren’t they?

 

“Well, I did bring that agent Idiot One caught.” Wait, _who-?_ “The one Swirl asked Leader to keep alive for now.”

 

“Oh, that’s the asshole that kept sticking his nose into our business, isn’t it? He’s the reason my arm blew up! Let me kill him!”

 

_Were they talking about..?_

 

“Leader told us not to.”

 

“Well, I’m sure he won’t realize the absence of a fly.”

 

“Maybe he won’t, but Swirl will.”

 

“Oh, fuck him-”

 

“That’s enough. Now come, we need to prepare a room for him.”

 

“He’s not even conscious, what the fuck? We can leave him in that piece of shit metal pile Idiots used to call as car! Are we making this place into a five-star hotel?”

 

“Please shut up, Bomber.”

 

“I will show you how to shut up-!”

 

Iruka slowly slipped out of the building, following the same way he came in. He knew what to do.

 

Partially.

 

\--

 

Being a troublemaker orphan had left Iruka with little to no knowledge about how to proceed with social interactions and responsibilities. That was exactly why he had been so keen on teaching Naruto, because going to a house that was not _home,_ being taken back to the orphanage after a family didn’t like the _product_ they _purchased,_ it didn’t leave much to learn at all.

 

But what Iruka learned was how much drugs sold, or how desperate people were for a drop of alcohol, how precious money was on the street. Escaping from his orphanage had taught him enough on how bad life could’ve been, even if his wasn’t yet. He had been lucky enough to be found not even one month after he had runaway, but he still had little scars from the bottle a drunk man smashed on his back. It had hurt a lot.

 

Another thing he learned was sneaking. He used to sneak a lot, to steal money, to find a place to sleep, to escape from cops or drunk, bad people.

 

And that was how he ended up learning how to pick locks or hotwire old cars.

 

Picking locks didn’t help much with the doors like this car's, but smashing the front window did the job. An annoyingly loud alarm started with it, too, but that didn’t matter much. Iruka could start the car in less than one minute- or maybe two, or more, because years did nothing to improve his little tricks. But it would be enough.

 

It had to be.

 

As he removed the panel on the steering column using the corner of the old pocket knife he had on himself -old habits from childhood did die hard, and sometimes they didn’t, not fully, at least- Iruka cursed. This wasn’t as familiar as he'd prefer. Stealing a car, especially when he spent years being a respectable adult that children could look up to, was very hard. And being hyper focused on the _stillness_ at the backseat of the car left him with trembling hands too.

 

_Don't think. He is alive._

 

Finding the right bundle of cables took longer than Iruka hoped, but as he carefully bit off the insulation off of the end of them, he somehow felt proud of being able to remember how to do this. Though, even with the pride, the tight bundle of nerves were still wrecking his mind.

 

The sound of the warehouse’s door opening accompanied the roar of the engine. Iruka scrambled up to clutch the steering wheel, pressing the pedal abruptly with fear brimming in his bones.

 

Booming gunshots ringed in his ear as he ducked down as far as he could while keeping an eye on the warehouse or trees. Hoping not to crash in anything that he couldn't see, he let out strings of endless praying and curses.

 

Somehow, it all worked out.

 

\--

 

“Fucking fighter, I tell you. The man just refuses to die-”

 

“Anko, leave him alone.” Iruka sighed quietly as he slipped away from the warm hold of sleep, tiredness sinking in his bones and dragging his body down even though he had just woken up. Last few days had been hard, and sleeping on hospital chairs -or occasionally, by the corner of a hospital bed- killed his back enough for him to feel like he aged up drastically during his stay in this place.

 

“But Kurenai-”

 

That was Anko’s stubborn voice. It was easy to recognise, and after hearing it almost constantly after the nightmare at the warehouse, Iruka didn’t think he would ever be able to forget it.

 

He didn’t think he wanted to, either. Imagining how he could’ve been stuck between four white walls with no noise except his own thoughts, or even worse, being stuck in the waiting room because he wasn’t a family member, Iruka was happy to have Anko and Kurenai with him. Knowing an FBI agent and her girlfriend, it seemed, did come in handy sometimes.

 

“No, let them rest.”

 

“It’s fine, Kurenai-chan,” _Wait._ “I think Iruka-chan woke up just now.”

 

Being very hoarse, cracking from disuse -or maybe overuse, Iruka was scared to guess what the real reason was- did nothing to the appeal of Kakashi’s voice. He sounded tired, but maybe a little content at the same time. To Iruka, he sounded like a miracle.

 

“K- Kakashi!” Lifting his head from the side of the hospital bed to sit stiffly on the chair, Iruka barely managed to hide the wince from being in the same position for god knows how long. Everything hurt, but it didn’t matter. “You’re awake!”

 

And he really was. Resting on the white bed with medical gauze covering most of his face -his cheeks, starting from the corner of his lips, and his left eye, god, _his eye-_ Kakashi sat, the usual cheerful glint in his single visible eye, not as bright as before, but still burning bright in his dark iris.

 

“Yeah, sorry for making you wait, Iruka-chan. I was a little too lazy, so I guess I missed our first date. I heard it was very adventurous- _oof!”_

 

Iruka kept his arms around Kakashi even though he tried to keep his touch light enough to not hurt him, pressing his head on the man’s -not ghost, not anymore- chest, and felt his breath stuttering in his chest. “You’re awake.”

 

There was silence, cold and pressing, then a warm, bandaged hand settled on his back, and Kakashi chuckled against his ear, “Yeah, and so are you.”

 

None of them moved. And when they did, there weren’t any hints of tears on their face.

 

\--

 

If that became a lie after Kurenai and Anko left, nobody had to know except themselves. The silent promises they shared, jokes whispered against the other’s skin to try to make each other laugh, and maybe even snort, in Iruka’s case _-from too much laughing, I swear! I don’t snort while laughing, stop making fun of me dumbass-_ belonged to their eyes only.

 

If there was a kiss, hidden under the darkness of the falling night, tender with care in the soft, careful press of lips that avoided the gauze, then that was for them to know. Iruka didn’t know if they would be brave enough to share one in the sunlight, with nothing to cover Kakashi’s scars and Iruka’s adoration shining in his eyes, but that didn’t matter.

 

They were together. That was enough.

 

It was more than enough.

**Author's Note:**

> It's not really possible to just go on and hotwire a modern car under 1 minute. I did my research and it is quite possible that my FBI agent is very much suspicious of me right now, but that information was worth it.


End file.
